When you have a big need, God can seem far, far away. That’s because your need is so close to you—blocking your vision of everything else, including God. When that happens, it’s time to step back and get a new perspective.
Over and over in the Old Testament, we read God’s words that “by his mighty hand and outstretched arm” He did something for His people. Whether it was to free them from slavery or foreign oppressor, God said He would reach out His arm and act on their behalf.
That leads us to ask, “How long is God’s arm anyway?”
Honestly, I don’t know the answer. But I can assure you that based on what God’s Word tells us, it is long enough to meet the need in your life that right now seems so enormous to you.
The prophet Isaiah said, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save” (Isaiah 59:1). Those words were written by the man who saw the Lord with his own eyes. If Isaiah says the Lord’s arm is long enough—and he was an eyewitness—then we can trust his testimony.
While Job was facing overwhelming difficulties, his friend Elihu told him that God is beyond our understanding and beyond our reach. From a human standpoint, that is true. We certainly cannot reach up to heaven to bring God down to us. But even though our arms aren’t long enough to reach God, his mighty arm is long enough to reach down to us and lift us from the pit of our neediness.
Jeremiah wrote, “Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:17).
Friend, that includes your need. Take heart from the fact that absolutely nothing is too hard for the God of creation, whose mighty hand and outstretched arm reaches down to where you live.
